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JPMorgan, Goldman economists see global growth just below 4%
- Economists see U.S. strength despite emerging markets, trade
Wall Street economists are sticking with their forecasts for the global economy to enjoy its strongest growth since the start of the decade even as emerging markets wobble and trade wars escalate…
Wall Street Is Bullish on Global Economy Despite Emerging Markets
Fidelity Investments said it will start two additional zero-expense-ratio mutual funds, stepping up its push to lure cost-conscious individual investors.
The Fidelity Zero Large Cap Index Fund and the Fidelity Zero Extended Market Index Fund will be available beginning Sept. 18, Boston-based Fidelity said in a statement Wednesday…
Fidelity Expands Zero-Fee Lineup With Two New Index Mutual Funds
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Hartford, FM Global send staff to region as claims expected
- Wells Fargo shut branches as Daimler, Cargill halted work
Days before Hurricane Florence is expected to slam into the U.S. East Coast, insurers are starting to see potential claims costs tick upward as people flee and companies halt operations.
Evacuations, already affecting more than 1 million people in and around North Carolina, start the clock ticking on business-interruption insurance policies, which help replace lost income for companies when natural disasters strike. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and FM Global are among insurers with exposure in the region that are sending staff to help with anticipated claims…
Barclays Plc, one of the world’s biggest investment banks, will invest about 875 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in a U.K. property fund that will lend to home builders.
The fund will make “competitively priced” loans to developers ranging from 5 million pounds to 100 million pounds in a bid to increase the pace and volume of housing provision, the London-based bank said in a statement. The U.K. government’s housing agency will invest 125 million pounds in the venture…
Barclays Plants $1.1 Billion Into U.K. Government Housing Fund
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Rupee ‘catching up’ after ‘benign period of stability’: I-Sec
- Evidence supports market view for 15%-20% earnings growth
India’s rupee has been battered along with its emerging-market peers in recent weeks, but stock investors would do well to look beyond the currency’s slump and pay attention to an improving earnings picture, according to the nation’s largest brokerage.
“We have moved away from the past when currency sneezed and the equity markets caught a cold,” Shilpa Kumar, chief executive officer of ICICI Securities Ltd., said in an interview. “The broad view is for a 15 percent to 20 percent earnings growth from here on for the next two years and the evidence of that is there.”…
The Government May Want to Buy Your Dying Mall
By · CommentsLocal governments across the U.S. are taking over dying shopping malls.
These municipalities, concerned that vacated retail centers will blight the landscape and drag down surrounding property values, have been buying up malls they fear are being starved of capital by the private sector…
The Government May Want to Buy Your Dying Mall
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Central bank committed to not lowering key rate until December
- Data shows inflation accelerating in August and September
Argentina’s central bank kept its key interest rate on Tuesday at 60 percent, the highest in the world, following a surprise hike two weeks ago after the peso plunged.
Central bank officials said in their statement that inflation accelerated in August and continues to do so September, citing high-frequency data. They forecast the economy to be in recession this year and next. They also reaffirmed their commitment from August to not lower rates until December in an effort to stabilize the peso, which is down more than 50 percent so far this year…
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Khan needs to overhaul ‘collapsed’ distribution system: Engro
- Engro coal power project running four months ahead of schedule
In Pakistan’s Tharpakar desert, Chinese and Pakistani workers toil in the blistering heat to complete the construction of a massive open pit coal mine and an adjacent 660 megawatt power plant four months before schedule. The roadblocks will come soon after.
When Engro Corp., one of Pakistan’s largest conglomerates, which is partnering with China, begins generating electricity from the plant in December it will hit a distribution and transmission network that is essentially “bankrupt,” according to Shamsuddin Shaikh, the chief executive officer of Engro’s energy arm…
U.S. Stocks Gain Despite Trade Worries
By · CommentsEnergy shares get boost from higher oil prices; Hang Seng enters bear market
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MTG founder Matsushita got the stars to represent his brands
- His stake is worth $1.7 billion after IPO in Japan in July
Tsuyoshi Matsushita didn’t know Cristiano Ronaldo or Madonna at all, but he somehow got in touch with them and persuaded them to be the faces of his products.
By doing so, the Japanese entrepreneur built his company into a $2.3 billion firm, making himself a billionaire in the process. It was made possible, he said, because his little-known business gambled on trying to get the superstars to endorse its brands.
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Anta Sports offers to buy Finland’s Amer for 40 euros a share
- Anta gearing up for Tokyo, Beijing Olympics in next four years
China’s Anta Sports Products Ltd. is gearing up for the Olympic Games in Asia with a 4.7 billion-euro ($5.5 billion) approach for one of the world’s biggest athletic gear makers.
Anta said it and Chinese buyout firm FountainVest Partners made an indicative offer for Amer Sports Oyj of Finland, which makes the Wilson tennis rackets used by Serena Williams as well as the Atomic and Salomon ski equipment. Under the non-binding approach, which is subject to due diligence and other conditions, shareholders would receive a cash consideration of 40 euros a share, Anta said in a statement Wednesday…
About 20% of One World Trade Center remains empty four years after it opened
Restoring the World Trade Center’s office market has been slow going.
The emotionally fraught rebuilding of the signature 1,776-foot tall One World Trade Center skyscraper and three other towers was delayed for years by political and financial battles. More recently, leasing has been hampered by a New York office market that has been weaker than expected for this late stage in the economic cycle.
New York’s World Trade Center Struggles to Fill Office Space
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BlackRock, Fidelity funds backed pay at Tesla, Axon Enterprise
- More outlier executive stock grants may follow, advisers say
Some of the world’s biggest money managers backed two unprecedented executive awards this year, emboldening other corporate boards to make colossal bets on their CEOs.
Funds run by BlackRock Inc., Fidelity and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. cast votes in favor of special grants for Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and Axon Enterprise Inc.’s Rick Smith, regulatory filings show. Musk and Smith will each reap more than $1 billion from the grants if they meet moonshot financial targets over the next decade…
The Incredible Shrinking Hedge Fund
By · CommentsYou’d be forgiven for thinking the hedge fund industry might be starting to rebound. Industry assets are at a record $3.2 trillion this year, and a brand-new ?rm just brought in an unprecedented $8 billion.
But the reality isn’t so rosy. In?ows into funds, on the whole, are non-existent and the number of startups has slowed to levels not seen for nearly two decades…
The Incredible Shrinking Hedge Fund
Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?
By · CommentsTen years ago this week, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed, triggering the worst financial crisis in almost a century, a seismic event that still reverberates today.
Then the fourth-biggest U.S. investment bank, Lehman declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008. Stocks plunged and credit markets froze. Investors, not knowing how interconnected the biggest financial players were, feared the entire global financial system could implode.
A decade later, amid signs of new asset bubbles, a big question is whether the steps taken after the crisis have made that system strong enough to withstand the next shock…
Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?
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Sum would be used to head off claims from unsecured creditors
- The creditors say units were sold off at below-market prices
Independent directors of Nine West Holdings Inc. proposed that Sycamore Partners LLC and a unit of KKR & Co. pay $470 million to settle potential lawsuits stemming from Sycamore’s 2014 leveraged buyout of the now-bankrupt shoe retailer.
An ad hoc group of unsecured creditors that had been negotiating with Nine West disclosed the offer by the independent board members in bankruptcy court papers Monday. The group, which includes Aurelius Capital Management LP, Contrarian Capital Management LLC, Paloma Partners Management Co. and Centerbridge Partners LP, was negotiating with Nine West’s owners for about a month before the discussions stalled, the filings show…
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Shanghai Composite close to breaching key technical level
- Index making “lower low” would be negative signal, says Maley
China’s sinking stocks are on the verge of an unwelcome milestone.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2 percent on Monday to within 15 points of where it bottomed out in 2016. If the measure drops further, it’ll be trading at the lowest since November 2014, before the nation’s stock boom and subsequent $5 trillion bust…
China’s Stocks Nearing 2016 Low Have Asia Markets on Knife Edge
Phnom Penh, once known for its French colonial villas and modernist “New Khmer Architecture,” is becoming unrecognizable.
Republicans are bracing for a potential Democratic wave in November that would rip away their grip on the U.S. House, leave their agenda in tatters and embroil Donald Trump’s White House in a procession of congressional investigations.
As the midterm election campaign enters the homestretch, independent analysts uniformly agree Democrats are well-positioned to take control of the 435-seat chamber when the next Congress convenes and that their odds have only gotten better since the start of the year…
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is broadening its team that offers hedge fund investments in a bet that volatility will help spur more allocations to the industry.
The bank’s asset management unit hired Lynnette Ferguson to lead hedge fund solutions for its investment specialist team in the Americas and promoted London-based Karim Leguel to be international head of the team, according to a statement Monday. Both will report to Jamie Kramer, head of JPMorgan’s alternative solutions group…
JPMorgan Bolsters Hedge Fund Team in Asset Management With Hires
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Firm has only large EM fund with positive returns this year
- Manager Sebastian Juhen has eked out a 2.5 percent return
Sebastien Juhen’s simple investment strategy, inspired by a two-year bike ride across the Americas, is paying dividends for investors at a time when almost everything else in emerging markets is in freefall.
Eschewing the derivatives favored by others, the money manager who runs BlueOrchard’s $1.6 billion Microfinance Fund has eked out a 2.5 percent return this year. That makes it the only one out of 251 emerging-market funds bigger than $1 billion to have gained at all, according to data compiled by Bloomberg…
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Yen-denominated debt raised jump to highest since 2006
- Power Grid and IRFC among borrowers seeking Samurai loans
Indian companies lured by Japan’s near-record low interest rates and easier availability of funds are raising the most yen-denominated loans in more than a decade as dollar lenders turn cautious.
While Samurai loans still make up only a small portion of Indian firms’ total foreign-currency facilities, coming to more than 6 percent this year, they are growing in importance for borrowers. Power Grid Corp. and Indian Railway Finance Corp. are seeking such debt, adding to $846 million worth of yen syndicated loans raised by domestic companies this year, people familiar with the matter said. That’s the most since the same period in 2006…
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Pound jumps as EU negotiator says Brexit deal is realistic
- Dow Jones Transportation Average closes at record high
Most U.S. stocks hung onto gains to close higher even as FANG weakness and lingering concern over U.S. and China trade tensions weighed on investor optimism. Apple, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet were among the biggest losers in the Nasdaq 100 Index.
Some argue that the price-to-book-value ratio has lost its relevance due to the increasing significance of intangible assets
Why the Traditional Way of Measuring ‘Value’ Stocks May Be History
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Correlation between coins has increased during recent rout
- Cryptocurrencies remain uncorrelated to other major assets
Bitcoin’s ties to other cryptocurrencies are becoming suffocating in the rout.
Digital coins are famously uncorrelated to other assets but they’re highly correlated with each other. That lifted the whole market up last year, but this year it means they’re all falling together, leaving crypto investors with little refuge…
Nowhere to Hide In Crypto as Digital Asset Ties Tighten in Slump
Here’s some grim back-of-the-envelope math for insurers: Hurricane Florence may wreak $15 billion to $20 billion in covered losses from wind and coastal storm-surge, if the past is any guide, according to catastrophe modeler Risk Management Solutions.
That range is based on benchmarking two similar hurricanes from decades past — Hazel in 1954 and Hugo in 1989 — and translating their damage into present-day figures, according to Tom Sabbatelli, an event response manager at RMS. It doesn’t include the potential cost of inland flooding…
Florence Could Cost Insurers Up to $20 Billion in Early Forecast
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FANG stocks extended drop, but most U.S. stocks held gains
- Pound jumped after EU negotiator said Brexit deal realistic
Asian stocks open mixed after their U.S. counterparts eked out modest gains amid lingering concerns about trade tensions. The dollar held Monday losses, while the pound was higher after upbeat Brexit comments from the European Union’s chief negotiator.
Equity indexes advanced in Japan and were little changed in Australia and South Korea, leaving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lingering near a one-year low. Futures fell in Hong Kong and China. The S&P 500 Index broke a four-day slide even as so-called FANG stocks underperformed. U.S. two-year note yields hovered near the highest level in a decade in the run-up to an anticipated Federal Reserve interest-rate hike later this month…
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Storm now rated Category 4, one level below most severe
- Mandatory evacuations ordered along North Carolina coast
Florence continues to grow in size and strength, now poised to become the strongest hurricane in almost 30 years to hit the Carolinas as more than 1 million people began fleeing the U.S. coastline.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks are under mandatory evacuation orders and four states declared emergencies as the Category 4 storm barreled toward the coast Monday. Already estimated to bring as much as $27 billion in damages, Florence is aiming for landfall late Thursday or early Friday somewhere between Charleston, South Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia…
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Investors are overly pessimistic on Tencent: UBS Asset’s Shi
- About 19 percent of China opportunity fund allocated to cash
There’s a Chinese stock always worth owning even when you’re pulling out of the market, according to one of the world’s largest investors.
UBS Asset Management’s Bin Shi has been buying shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. while also raising cash to a record, saying concern over China’s gaming clampdown has gone too far. Tencent, which is among the largest holdings in the $6.1 billion China fund that Shi helps to manage, can offset some of the worry anyway by growing overseas or selling more ads, he said. The stock dropped as much as 2.7 percent early Thursday in Hong Kong…
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Investors flee tumbling stocks, P2P losses, debt defaults
- ‘Where is the safe place to put our hard-earned savings?’
The new hot thing for Chinese savers is about as old and boring as it gets.
Bank deposits, shunned for years by the nation’s return-hungry masses, are suddenly looking attractive again as higher-yielding investments prove riskier than many had anticipated. China’s household deposits rose in July at the fastest annual rate in a year — an influx that analysts say may accelerate after the nation’s stock market sank at the quickest pace worldwide, hundreds of peer-to-peer lending platforms shuttered and companies defaulted on their debt at an unprecedented rate…
Sinking Indian Rupee Remains Hostage to Oil
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Currency is Asia’s worst performer so far in 2018, sliding 11%
- Trade deficit jumped to 5-year high in July as crude rallied
Forget Turkey and Argentina. The Indian rupee’s real bugbear is the price of oil.
India’s currency had its worst month in three years in August as crude rallied on speculation sanctions on Iran will shrink global supplies. The crude import bill for the world’s fastest-growing oil user surged 76 percent in July from a year earlier to $10.2 billion. That pushed up the trade deficit to $18 billion, the most in five years…
Sinking Indian Rupee Remains Hostage to Oil
Athenahealth Inc. will pay former Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Bush $4.83 million if the company is sold with his help in coming months.
Bush, who stepped down in June after being accused of sexual misconduct, will receive an additional $2 million in early 2020 if he upholds a non-compete agreement with the health-technology firm, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday…
Athenahealth Ex-CEO Bush to Get $4.83 Million If Firm Is Sold
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Turkey’s implied default odds climb to highest since 2008
- ‘Substantial’ default risk in Argentina as well: Credit Suisse
Investor anxiety about a missed debt payment by one of the world’s largest developing nations is jacking up the cost of credit-default swaps from the “BATS” — Brazil, Argentina, Turkey and South Africa — to multi-year highs.
Analysts are taking note. Turkey and Argentina have “substantial” medium-term default risks as they’ll probably face recessions and rising political risks ahead of key votes, Kasper Bartholdy, a strategist at Credit Suisse in London, wrote in a note today…
Mercedes Unveils First Tesla Rival in $12 Billion Attack
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EQC to join Porsche, Audi, Jaguar models in electric-car race
- CEO Zetsche: ‘We’re going all in. It’s starting right now’
Mercedes-Benz, the world’s largest maker of luxury cars, is rolling out its first in a series of battery-powered models, adding to a growing array of high-end brands targeting Tesla Inc.
The Mercedes EQC crossover starts production in the first half of next year, part of a plan to develop its EQ electric line, Daimler AG Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche told reporters in Stockholm at the model’s world premiere. The company intended to invest 10 billion euros ($12 billion) in its electric-vehicle push but has ended up spending “more than that,” he said Tuesday, without specifying figures…
Tech Stocks Retreat as Senate Hearing Proceeds
By · CommentsA large chunk of the 73 companies in the S&P 500 technology sector show losses as Facebook and Twitter executives testify
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Bridge connecting Canada, U.S. expected to cost $2.6 Billion
- Group seeking to raise C$454 million from Canadian investors
The group picked to build a new bridge between Canada and the U.S. is planning to raise money in the Canadian bond market to fund the project expected to cost about C$3.5 billion ($2.6 billion), people familiar with the matter said.
Executives at the Bridging North America General Partnership (BNA), which is slated to build the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit — one of the world’s busiest trade corridors — began three days of meetings with Canadian fixed income investors on Wednesday, according to people who asked not to be identified as the talks are private…
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Brazil, Indonesia May Be Better Off Than Currencies Suggest
- Current Account Deficits Remain Key to Many Developing Nations
This year’s global emerging-market selloff has its roots in a slew of mini-routs as the era of easy-money came to an end. Consider Turkey, now paying the price for its refusal to follow orthodox monetary policy; Argentina, facing a crisis of confidence just four years of its last default; China, targeted in a trade war; and South Africa, the emerging-market proxy punished for crisis in any corner of the asset class…
Contagion or Not, These Emerging Markets Hold Key to Selloff
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Hanks brings his son Truman, who was 5 when Twin Towers fell
- Event raises more than $3 million for memorial and museum
Tom Hanks’s son Truman was 5 when the Twin Towers fell in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Making sure he understands that day is one reason his parents brought him to a benefit for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
“It altered the world and we should know as much about it as possible,” Hanks said Tuesday night at Cipriani Wall Street, standing next to his son, who’s 22, and his wife, Rita Wilson…
American Tire Debt Plan Includes Possible Bankruptcy
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ATD said Tuesday it reached deal on recapitalization
- Proposal is said to hand control of company to bondholders
American Tire Distributors Inc. is considering a bankruptcy filing as part of a proposed $2.4 billion debt overhaul, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The deal would give holders of ATD’s subordinated bonds a 95 percent stake in the reorganized company, wiping out that debt while leaving its term loan outstanding, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The tire distributor skipped an interest payment on the junior notes, kicking off a 30-day grace period before a default is triggered…
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Morgan Stanley says stay short on emerging-market currencies
- It’s ‘no longer just about EM fundamentals’: Deutsche Bank
The rout in emerging markets showed few signs of abating, even as some of the worst-hit currencies took a breather, as an index of stocks slipped toward bear territory and a basket of currencies traded near its lowest since May 2017.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of shares extended its slide to 19.7 percent from a January peak. Among the worst-hit stock markets were Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, where benchmark indexes tumbled by the most in about two years. The Argentina peso and Turkish lira, which have led global losses this year, eked out gains as the nations took measures to curb the damage…
Amazon Hits $1 Trillion Valuation
By · CommentsIt took online retailer just 165 trading days to grow from $600 billion in January to $1 trillion
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Miller says the move may be seen as a sign of confidence
- Head of iShares in Japan says program has had intended effect
Some investors are worried about the market impact when the Bank of Japan decides to wind back an extraordinary years-long program of support for the country’s stock market, but the world’s largest money manager sees less reason for concern.
There will probably be some initial volatility for equities when the BOJ announces a slowdown in purchases of exchange-traded funds, according to the head of BlackRock Inc.’s iShares business in Tokyo. But the move may then be interpreted as a sign of confidence in the economy and market, he said…
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More rich families start funds as strategy catches on in Asia
- Tolaram to court outside money after Millennium, Goldman hires
They’ve already come for the talent, poaching traders from the likes of Millennium Management LLC. Now Asia’s family offices are going after the hedge fund industry’s clients, too.
Take Tolaram Group, which runs a $500 million family office in Singapore. After hiring former Millennium and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. staffers to manage $100 million of its own cash, Tolaram plans to convert the portfolio into a hedge fund and accept outside money next year. It’s the first foray into asset management for a family that made its fortune in textiles, consumer goods, and other mostly non-financial businesses…
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Economists in central bank survey see 2018 GDP shrinking 1.9%
- Forecast of 40% inflation, peso to be 41.9/USD by end of 2018
Argentina’s economic outlook deteriorated significantly in August amid a renewed currency crisis, with economists surveyed by the central bank forecasting a deepening recession, weaker currency and higher inflation.
Economists in the monthly survey published Tuesday see South America’s second-largest economy contracting 1.9 percent in 2018, compared with the previous forecast of a 0.3 percent contraction. Inflation is expected to end the year at 40.3 percent, up from the 31.8 percent prediction in July…
Dissent came after memo by an outside consultant raised concerns about risk, according to people familiar with matter
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Shivinder Singh said in statement he sued brother Malvinder
- Brothers have seen dramatic fall in their fortunes this year
One of the most dramatic unravelings of an Indian business empire took an unexpected turn as Shivinder Singh, one of the founders of Fortis Healthcare Ltd., said he has sued brother Malvinder for alleged “oppression and mismanagement” of their companies.
Shivinder, in a statement dated Sept. 4, said he filed a case with India’s National Company Law Tribunal against Malvinder and Sunil Godhwani, former chairman of the Singhs’ financial services company Religare Enterprises Ltd. He alleges that the pair were to blame for “a systematic undermining of the interests of the companies and their shareholders.” Malvinder and Godhwani couldn’t be immediately reached for comment…
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SDM would channel funds for fighting pollution to poor nations
- Push to agree on rules for market by the end of this year
After the United Nations’s first attempt to build a global carbon market fizzled from $33 billion to almost nothing, climate envoys from almost 200 countries are meeting in Bangkok this week to give it another go.
The diplomats gathered in Bangkok this week are working on a so-called Sustainable Development Mechanism that would channel investment into projects that cut pollution in some of the poorest countries of the world. Richer nations that provide much of the finance would get credits in exchange that go to help meet their commitments on reducing emissions, which may allow them to take on more ambitious goals..
With properties in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Switzerland, Norges is now exploring possible deals in Singapore
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Gain in his net worth more than FedEx’s market capitalization
- Amazon briefly became America’s second trillion-dollar company
Amazon.com Inc. briefly became America’s second trillion-dollar company on Tuesday after adding $434 billion to its market cap this year.
No one has benefited more than founder Jeff Bezos, who has added $67 billion to his fortune this year, giving him a $167 billion net worth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of 12:30 p.m. in New York on Tuesday…
Amazon at $1 Trillion Pushes Bezos’s 2018 Gain to $67 Billion
Dollar gains, while investors watch for U.S. data releases and trade talks
U.S. stocks began September with declines as investors looked ahead to a busy week of trade negotiations and economic data.
Stocks drifted lower shortly after the opening bell, then pared declines in the final hours of trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average erasing nearly all of its losses for the day…
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No sign of an end yet; Morgan Stanley says short EM currencies
- South Africa enters into a recession, Argentina deteriorates
Asian investors braced for another challenging day Wednesday as turmoil in emerging markets deepened, with Indonesia’s rupiah in focus after it tumbled to the weakest against the dollar since the Asian financial crisis.
The rupiah, one of Asia’s more vulnerable currencies thanks to Indonesia’s reliance on overseas financing, is approaching 15,000 per dollar, while India’s rupee — another exchange rate beset by current-account deficit worries — is fixed for a record-low open. A negative tone was set by news Tuesday that South Africa’s economy had slumped into recession, coming a day after Turkey reported a surge in inflation…
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The mad rush of earnings season kicks in four times a year
- Now the system is being re-examined after surprise Trump tweet
For more than a quarter century, Wall Street analyst Mike Mayo has danced to the steady beat of corporate America.
His work habits, his family events, his social life, even his workouts and vacations — all have been dictated by the seemingly immutable cycle of quarterly earnings reports…
Wall Street’s 30 Days of Hell: No Sleep, No Meals, No Family
The Turkish lira may have found its footing after the central bank signaled higher interest rates were around the corner, but some investors worry that any lasting relief will require a bold hike that it is loath to deliver.
Even after 700 basis points of monetary tightening since December, consumer-price growth has accelerated for five months, narrowing the inflation-adjusted policy rate to around 1 percent. Just to drive that back toward levels that afforded the lira some relative stability in June, the central bank would have to raise borrowing costs by another 400 basis points…
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Biggest U.K. online lender targets 2-billion-pound valuation
- Holch Povlsen’s Heartland potentially takes 10% stake in firm
Funding Circle Ltd., Britain’s biggest online loan provider, plans to proceed with an initial public offering, the latest test for Europe’s maturing fintech sector.
The eight-year-old company plans to raise about 300 million pounds ($388 million) selling new shares on the London Stock Exchange, while existing shareholders will also sell stock in the IPO, according to a statement Monday. Anders Holch Povlsen, a Danish retail billionaire, agreed to buy 10 percent of the equity under certain conditions…
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Ping An is the most popular among foreign traders this year
- Mainland investor holdings of firm’s H shares near year low
Few Chinese companies divide the stock market like Ping An Insurance Group Co.
The largest Chinese insurer by market value is 2018’s most popular mainland stock among foreign investors, who have net bought 16.1 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) of its Shanghai-traded shares, according to Bloomberg calculations. That’s more than for any other company via trading links between Hong Kong and the mainland…
Foreigners Love This Stock That China Investors Seem to Hate
European Finance Chiefs Struggle to Spend Cash
By · CommentsStronger profits and pressure from negative interest rates are prompting European CFOs to splurge on buybacks, dividends and capital investments
Finance chiefs at European, Middle Eastern and African companies have a luxury problem: figuring out how to spend $1.1 trillion in cash.
The top cash hoarders in the region are Total SA TOT -1.38% with €29.2 billion ($33.9 billion), Electricite de France SA EDF -1.38% with €28.3 billion and Volkswagen AGVOW3 -2.06% with €27.3 billion, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service. The data covers 757 nonfinancial companies based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and showed cash levels reached a seven-year high at the end of 2017…
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Abe push for cheaper services causes shares to yo-yo again
- Government still wants households to spend less on wireless
NTT Docomo Inc. shares gained seven of the past eight trading days, rebounding after a two-day plunge triggered by a government official’s comment suggesting Japan’s mobile carriers have room to slash customer bills.
Investors have seen this movie before: A Japanese government official says mobile phone bills are too high, and the three big carriers’ shares tumble, only to recover within days or weeks…
A $14 Billion Mobile Stock Sell-Off in Japan Makes a U-Turn
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Pledges to extempt some poorer nations from loans coming due
- Chinese president also offers $6 billion in new financing
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged debt relief to some poorer African nations, attempting to push back against a major criticism of his signature Belt and Road Initiative.
Speaking to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on Monday in Beijing, Xi defended the global program to develop roads, railways, ports, pipelines and other trade links. China planned to exempt some African countries from interest-free loans due by the end of the year, Xi said, adding that the relief would be granted to unspecified poor and heavily indebted countries…
Tencent-backed company, which offers services similar to those of Yelp, Grubhub and Groupon, hasn’t yet delivered an annual profit
How the forces Obama and Geithner failed to contain reshaped the world we live in.
It was late January 2010, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sat slumped in a leather chair as the afternoon sun cast shadows across his ornate corner office. He’d just gotten off the phone with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The economy was, if not exactly healthy, light-years ahead of where it had been when he took the job a year earlier—a moment when the world teetered on the brink of another Great Depression. The financial contagion had been halted. Growth had returned. The stock market was 10 months into a bull run that continues to this day…
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Argentina leads emerging markets lower; oil trades around $70
- U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday
Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday amid continuing concerns about stability in emerging markets and prospects for escalating U.S.-China trade tensions. The dollar and Treasury yields were steady.
Equity benchmarks swung between gains and losses with little direction after American exchanges were closed Monday for a holiday. The yen fluctuated after the Bank of Japan increased purchases of shorter-term bonds in its regular operations Tuesday, compensating for a reduction in the number of days on which it plans to buy them. Emerging markets fell Monday, with Argentina slumping the most even as it took further steps to restore investor confidence…